When you think about pollution you probably imagine a smog-filled city, or an ocean choking on plastic.
But pollution extends beyond what’s in the air and the water. Noise pollution, the noise we live with every day, is a growing problem, and it’s affecting our hearing.
Unsurprisingly, noise pollution is particularly bad in cities. A recent study found that Guangzhou in China had the worst noise pollution, while Zurich in Switzerland had the least.
The Worldwide Hearing Index was created by digital hearing app founders Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH. They analysed the hearing test results of 200,000 of their users.
They combined their results with data on noise pollution from the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as from SINTEF, a Norwegian-based research organization, and used it to plot noise pollution in 50 different cities.
SE Asia is in the well represented with 9 cities in the worst top 20, lot’s to improve !
Typical sources of noise pollution are transport, such as road, rail and air traffic, construction and industry, and radios and televisions blaring in shops, restaurants and bars.
